| First Author | Brylka LJ | Year | 2017 |
| Journal | PLoS One | Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 10 | Pages | e0187030 |
| PubMed ID | 29088242 | Mgi Jnum | J:247828 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5920953 | Doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0187030 |
| Citation | Brylka LJ, et al. (2017) Post-weaning epiphysiolysis causes distal femur dysplasia and foreshortened hindlimbs in fetuin-A-deficient mice. PLoS One 12(10):e0187030 |
| abstractText | Fetuin-A / alpha2-Heremans-Schmid-glycoprotein (gene name Ahsg) is a systemic inhibitor of ectopic calcification. Due to its high affinity for calcium phosphate, fetuin-A is highly abundant in mineralized bone matrix. Foreshortened femora in fetuin-A-deficient Ahsg-/- mice indicated a role for fetuin-A in bone formation. We studied early postnatal bone development in fetuin-A-deficient mice and discovered that femora from Ahsg-/- mice exhibited severely displaced distal epiphyses and deformed growth plates, similar to the human disease slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE). The growth plate slippage occurred in 70% of Ahsg-/- mice of both sexes around three weeks postnatal. At this time point, mice weaned and rapidly gained weight and mobility. Epiphysis slippage never occurred in wildtype and heterozygous Ahsg+/- mice. Homozygous fetuin-A-deficient Ahsg-/- mice and, to a lesser degree, heterozygous Ahsg+/- mice showed lesions separating the proliferative zone from the hypertrophic zone of the growth plate. The hypertrophic growth plate cartilage in long bones from Ahsg-/- mice was significantly elongated and V-shaped until three weeks of age and thus prior to the slippage. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis of laser-dissected distal femoral growth plates from 13-day-old Ahsg-/- mice revealed a JAK-STAT-mediated inflammatory response including a 550-fold induction of the chemokine Cxcl9. At this stage, vascularization of the elongated growth plates was impaired, which was visualized by immunofluorescence staining. Thus, fetuin-A-deficient mice may serve as a rodent model of growth plate pathologies including SCFE and inflammatory cartilage degradation. |
